Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned about the dangers of Democrats and other elected officials who attempt to undermine the high court's rulings, The Hill reported. Roberts said this pressure comes "from across the political spectrum" ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.
In his year-end report released Tuesday, Roberts addressed the problem with what he called "illegitimate activity" involving elected officials. He used the example of one federal district judge "whose decisions in a high-profile case" led to impeachment calls from a politician.
Roberts said that the bar associations need to "come to the defense" of judges in similar situations. "Attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed," Roberts wrote in the report.
"Public officials certainly have a right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but they should be mindful that intemperance in their statements when it comes to judges may prompt dangerous reactions by others," Roberts added. The report comes as judges face outside threats while trust in the court plummets.
Roberts stressed that the court's job is not to appease everyone but to do what's right by the law. "It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy," he wrote in the report.
"Most cases have a winner and a loser. Every Administration suffers defeats in the court system—sometimes in cases with major ramifications for executive or legislative power or other consequential topic," Roberts added.
The chief justice noted that some elected officials have called legitimate decisions by federal courts "dangerous suggestions" that they can disregard. Roberts stressed that this comes "from across the political spectrum" rather than any one party in particular.
As Fox News noted, the Supreme Court has issued some rulings that anger Democrats and others that Republicans disagree with. For instance, the high court defanged many of the charges against Trump with the decision to grant presidential immunity.
This led President Joe Biden to urge term limits on Supreme Court judges and to impose an ethics code. Meanwhile, Republicans watched as the same court granted the Biden administration a stay that would allow them to continue to sell the abortion pill.
Supreme Court justices are increasingly under threat solely because of how they decide cases. This trend can arguably be traced back to the leaked draft of the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health decision in 2022.
According to the Washington Post, the leak prompted a California man to show up near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Nicholas John Roske, 26, drove from his Simi Valley home to exact revenge on one or more of the justices who overturned nearly half a century of bad precedent.
"Roske stated that he began thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided that he would kill the Supreme Court Justice …," the affidavit stated. Roske was charged with attempted murder, but troublingly, his actions seemed to be part of a broader trend on the left.
Leftists were fine with the Supreme Court improperly making laws for the last several decades. Now that there's a conservative majority on the court who wishes to bring laws back to their originalist interpretation, it's a problem they seek to solve with violence and intimidation.
The checks and balances in the American system of government are a miracle from the minds of our founders. It's vital to protect this system and address the problems like Roberts outlined so that the court can continue to operate as designed.
